Focus on the Positive...but Develop from the Negatives

I have this way of framing the world I can’t always turn off, even when I want to. As I am going about my day, driving along or visiting different places, I see compositions of patterns, symmetry, lines, and shapes. I notice reflections, angles, curves, light, and shadows. I don’t just see things as an individual object, but I observe the way in which things connect together. I find symbolism and irony in many views. Even when I do not have a camera, I find myself looking at landscapes and objects this way.   I frame the picture with my eyes and see how it would look in my mind as though I snapped the shot. Sometimes it works out the way I envisioned; other times I can’t quite capture the scene in the way I hoped to convey. I have thought recently about how I see the world around me, and that’s the best way I can think to describe it. You might agree with how I really do “see” things, or maybe I just have a unique way of interpreting scenes that others don’t understand. Either way

Last night on my way home from work, for the second time in two weeks, I missed getting an awesome shot of the rainbow over the highway in my driver's side mirror. Maybe the road curving before I could snap a shot is as symbolic as I wanted the image to be:  I should not be looking in my rearview mirror chasing rainbows behind me; I should be driving full spread ahead into the clearing of the rain and the sun peaking through the clouds. After all, there were plenty of picturesque sights in front of me, too, like how the rain hitting the pavement created steam around the cars from the change in temperature.  Sure, one of the widest rainbows I have ever seen was no longer visible behind me as I traveled onward, but the road ahead was looking clearer. No, I did not turn around to take a picture of that huge rainbow. I continued home into the brightness. I guess I have taken enough pictures of rainbows over the years!